site.btaMedia Review: May 14

Media Review: May 14

HEADLINES

The top headlines in the print media on Tuesday cover various topics. The main headline in 24 Chasa is on electricity prices in the coming warmer months. Trud leads with a story on fuel prices. The top story in Telegraph is about car thieves. Duma’s frontpage highlight is on Bulgaria’s foreign affairs with neighbouring countries North Macedonia, Greece, and the European Union.

A story about a man and a woman, who died after crashing into a tree in the centre of Plovdiv, central Bulgaria, is covered by headlines on the front pages of Trud and 24 Chasa. The morning programmes of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), bTV, and Nova TV host discussions on the topic and feature reports from the scene of the incident.

All media outlets feature interviews with healthcare professionals. The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) had two morning interviews – one with cardiologist Diyan Gospodinov, and another with Grigor Gorchev, Rector of the Medical University in Pleven, northern Bulgaria.   

CAR CRASH IN PLOVDIV, CENTRAL BULGARIA

A high-performance SUV crashed into trees in Plovdiv on Monday to Tuesday night at 3:30 a.m. The accident claimed the lives of the driver – a 21-year-old man, and a 20-year-old woman sitting next to him. A man and a woman, both 22-year-olds, who were in the backseat, are being stabilized in a hospital. Following are the highlights of the story coverage on television programmes.  

"In 95% of cases, nothing happens when a report is made that someone is driving recklessly. It has been a vicious circle for 15-20 years. There has been a steady crash count for the last 10 years with about 650 deaths a year and about 8,000 seriously injured and that is not changing," Vladimir Todorov, chairman of the Association of Crash Victims, told BNT on Tuesday. He highlighted three recurring problems in the case of the crash in Plovdiv – the very high speed, the driver’s low driving experience of two years coupled with 15 or 17 traffic violations in the period, and thirdly, he said that less experienced drivers should not be allowed to drive such high-performance cars.

bTV reported from the place of the incident at 7:15 a.m. The Interior Ministry is launching an open-ended specialized road safety police operation in Plovdiv. Additional teams will be deployed in areas with concentrations of crashes, at road junctions, intersections, and major arteries across the country.

Rally champion Kostadin Shterev commented on the topic on the morning programe of Nova TV. "I will speak as a racer, not as an expert. The conditions were extremely unsuitable for the speed at which the car was moving. It was over 200 kilometres per hour in my opinion," he said. The racer noted that no braking distance was visible at the scene and the tyres were of poor quality. According to him, the deceased driver had no time to react given the high speed he was driving with. Shterev noted that during the first 5 years of a driver's licence, junior drivers should be restricted in the vehicle power they are allowed to drive.

All reporters noted the fact that a parent of the driver works for the regional traffic police and the deceased had a high number of traffic violations in just two years of driving experience.

24 Chasa has put photos of the deceased and the smashed car on its frontpage with a headline that compares the accident to the one of Kristiyan Semerdzhiev who killed two women in a similar type of crash with a similar type of vehicle in Sofia.

HEALTHCARE

Grigor Gorchev, Rector of the Medical University in Pleven, was on the morning programmes of BNT and BNR to comment on the topic of the use of artificial intelligence in modern healthcare practice. “Healthcare, intelligent systems and artificial intelligence are the theme of the new issue of the Health Barometer, which will be officially presented today,” Gorchev said and pointed out several highlights. "Artificial intelligence has been making its way into medicine for quite some time. We have been working with it for 16 years because robotics is artificial intelligence. The problem is not how much it will enter, but how much we should limit it," he stressed. Gorchev underscored the importance of the subjective factor in the treating of patients and called for a hybrid approach. Another highlight was the quality of healthcare in Bulgaria and the medical professional said that patients should be equally well-treated in a municipal, state, or private hospital.

* * *

Cardiologist Diyan Gospodinov, co-founder of the Association of Young Doctors in Burgas, on the Black Sea, told BNR that being a young doctor in Bulgaria is a challenge of strong will, and that, according to him, fewer and fewer young Bulgarian doctors are emigrating abroad. Gospodinov works in a private hospital but has the idea to start working in a municipal facility. The shortage of paediatricians comes from unfair pay differentials in certain specialties, which leaves certain specialties undesirable, the cardiologist said. "Pathology continues to be unwanted. There is a shortage of over 600 psychiatrists. General practitioners are also greatly deficient. the country is already short of several thousand GPs," he said. The young cardiologist was adamant that the total number of doctors in the country is not insufficient. According to him, there are nearly 30,000 doctors in Bulgaria and in relation to the population this is a better ratio than the European one. “The problem is with nurses, where the problem will worsen if measures are not taken,” Gospodinov concluded.

* * *

GP Gergana Nikolova commented on the morning programme of Nova TV on the topic of children’s immunization levels in Bulgaria. She called on parents not to hesitate to vaccinate their children against pertussis, which has recently been spotted in unusual numbers across the country. Nikolova stressed that all adults who are against vaccination, have been vaccinated when they were children.

* * *

An article in Mediapool.bg reports that high levels of pollen were recorded in April, according to the National Centre of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD). Еxperts also predict high concentrations to persist in the second half of May, which could be the cause of severe allergic reactions. Symptoms can include runny nose, conjunctivitis, sore throat, fatigue, general malaise, shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

"The whole EU understood in the first second of the election of the new president of North Macedonia that this was something very dangerous, a foreign geopolitical project," journalist Lyubcho Neshkov commented on the swearing-in of the newly elected president, which triggered a series of reactions in Brussels, Bulgaria, and Greece, as well as in North Macedonia itself. The new head of state used only the name "Macedonia" in her oath, and not the constitutional name of the country - North Macedonia. Neshkov was adamant that Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a 70-year-old lawyer, was not “accidentally” omitting the word “North”.

Duma outlines the story’s development and the politicians who commented on the issue – Bulgarian caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, a speaker of the European Commission, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

ECONOMY

All print media writes about a possible upgrade of pensions by 11%. Former Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Kalfin told BNR that the increase is not dependent on the political “will” in the country, or the government. "The higher the inflation, the higher the pension increase," he said.  

* * *

24 Chasa writes on its frontpage that forecasts for electricity prices in July range between 4% and 10%. Th e daily notes that heating in the next winter season will be cheaper.

* * *

Mediapool.bg quote the Bulgarian National Radio, which reported that taxi drivers in Sofia are staging a protest organized by their national trade union. The reason for the discontent is the closure of taxi ranks in downtown Sofia. The drivers are unhappy after 40% of the ranks in the "central" zone and 20% in the "first" zone have been closed without any debate, union president Krasimir Tsvetkov said. Tsvetkov said that in recent years taxis have contributed more than BGN 30 million to the municipality's budget. He believes that these funds should go to improving the taxi ranks and taxi infrastructure.